Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Whoops...

So... I have not been keeping very up-to-date on this whole blog thing. There are many reasons for that and I plan to discuss each one...

We were picked up at the airport in a taxi by a young boy named Shafit (sp?). He took us to our guesthouse which is about 193248032984 times nicer than I thought it was going to be. When we entered the guesthouse we were greeted by Amina who I just found out is a 26 year old woman. Amina is the most amazing person I have ever met. She works at the guesthouse from 7am to 9pm and has two sons. She cleans, cooks, does laundry, shops for food, and speaks amazing English. Although this sounds pretty average, she is not. First of all, shopping for food is one of the hardest things in Bangladesh. We went to the market with her the other day and was amazed by how she handled herself. The market is overcrowded, kind of smelly, and incredibly hectic. She examined each piece of food and if anything has even a spec on it she would give it back (Women are not equals to men so her holding her own in the market is quite impressive). I do not even know how to describe it, but she has such commitment to her job. Whenever we try to help her pick up she does not let us because she takes her job so seriously. She constantly has a smile on her face and her 5 year old son does not leave her side (he is on summer vacation). I was so shocked when I found out she was only 26 because she is more mature and put-together than anyone I know. I just re-read this paragraph and it gives her no justice. She has been our savior on this trip and we have begun to call her mom. I consider her a hero of mine.

There is young guy (22) that works the night shift at the guesthouse (9pm-7am) named Shobus. He sleeps at the guesthouse. He has one of the warmest smiles I have ever seen. He is the oldest of 3 siblings and works two jobs... he fixes air conditioners from 8am to 6pm and then works at the guesthouse from the above times. All of the money he makes goes to support his brother and sister's schooling. He is incredibly kind... For example, he went in late to work on Monday because we asked him how to get to the embassy and instead of giving us directions he decided he would physically guide us there. He has been our second savior.

Michel is the owner of the guesthouse... Michel is someone I thought only exists in movies. Michel took this guesthouse from a fellow co-worker when she became ill. Amina was working for him at his house (He did not want a "servent" but he also did not want to put her out of work) and he decided to give her a salaried job at the guesthouse. He hired Shobus because Shobus asked if Michel had any work. Michel currently has two boys "hired" to clean his house. Last night Michel was angry with them because they have been cleaning/watching TV more then they have been studying their English. He said, "There one job is to learn English"... all the cleaning and stuff is to give them a good work ethic. Michel met these two boys in crazy situations... The first boy Michel became friendly with. Michel realized this boy had a good heart. One night the boys friends came knocking on Michel's door telling him they need his help because the boy is in jail. Michel went to the jail, paid the cop off and took the boy into his home. The boy was arrested because he was with a group of kids that were stealing mirrors off cars. The second boy was the first boys cousin... He came knocking on Michel's door with his mother and his hand in a bloody towel. The boy had cut his finger climbing a wall and his mother took him to a rural clinic where they amputated his finger... it got infected so they went to Michel's. Michel took the boy to the hospital and paid the bill. The mother asked if he can stay at the house much like his cousin. Michel said yes and hired these two boys. He is so incredibly relaxed and so incredibly trusting and kind.

Now that is my guesthouse... here have been my past few days...

I got fluey symptoms (high fever chills cough achey) on Monday while we were at the embassy. I luckily was able to drink lots of water and sleep a lot and by Tuesday afternoon I was better.

On Monday we went to the US embassy and it was a pretty cool experience. We met with 4 USAID people to discuss the MDGs. We met one woman who worked on child and mother health who has been increidbly helpful. She is currently in the middle of packing up (it is the end of her two years in Bangladehs and is moving to Kenya)... yet has found time to get us to go with the embassy to the Liberation War Museum, meetings with Smiling Sun, 2 "field trips" with BRAC, and recommended us to a touring group. She has been our savior when it comes to research. A woman named Sophie guided us around the embasys and took us to each meeting. She gave us some key insights into Bengali culture and the dos and don'ts of it all. She also spoke to us about being a member of USAID and it sounds pretty surreal. I would go into more detail but I am getting sleepy.

Oh the reasons I have fallen behind... one is the illness and two is because it is hard to blog about these experiences because there is so much to say so it seems impossible to blog so I put it off...
Just a little sidenote... In Bangladesh each embassy has a club... The American club is the only one that is considered its own soil (for example the dutch club is still Bangali soil). We will be going there with the diplomat we were put in contact with on Sunday... We are bing introduced to two completely contrasting worlds on this trip but I think it is good.

Oh yeah... it is hot and humid and when it rains it pours.

That is all for now.... Hopefully I will be better on keeping on top so they are not all so long...